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Accommodation Rome

My husband and I will be spending four nights in Rome in mid-September en route to Umbria. We are looking for a clean, affordable (around €100 per night) B&B or small hotel in Rome, if possible in the area near the Colosseum) To my surprise (maybe I'm too naive) even three star hotels charge over €200 per night. "This is Rome, honey" I can hear many of you think. I'm hoping that the Fodor community can help me out with some much appreciated advice and tips!

If you look well and hard enough you will find a good B&B (always make sure they have good reviews scores) within your budget. Go to Booking.com or Tripadvisor and type in B&b in Rome, selecting according to price, review score or location.

I would prefer staying in the Travestere area, around the Pantheon, Campo dei Fiori, Piazza Navona or even (if you don't find accomodation that suits your pocket) the Vatican area.

These places are more convenient to walk to the central attractions in Rome like the Spanish Steps, Fontana dei Trevi, Via Condotti etc. The Coliseum is not that central and you would have to take a bus to reach central Rome, otherwise it would be a very very long walk for you.

In Rome there are the open buses that stop you to the major attractions in Rome, but it would still be much better to base yourself in the very centre of Rome to get the best experience.

You may want to look at an apartment rental. They tend to be cheaper than hotels. We had very good luck renting through realrome.com and that agency has some studios and small apartments in your price range. http://www.realrome.com/

We stayed in a lovely B&B near the US Embassy (Via Veneto area). It was our second trip to Rome, and previously we stayed near Piazza Navona. We LOVED this area as it was clearly more residential, yet only a block away from buses and 2 and a half blocks from the Metro, and easily walkable to Borghese Park, Spanish Steps, etc. We looked for B&Bs in TripAdvisor and found several. When the first was totally booked, they sent us suggestions for others and that is how we eventually found Deko Roma. (It was only just opening up.) They have been so successful they are now booked solid, and probably no longer offer a room for 100euro. Mid September is pretty busy in Rome.

You could try the Hotel Panda - http://www.hotelpanda.it. Spanish Steps area and 108 euro. You could be lucky. Something decent for 100 euro in high season and only 5 weeks advance booking? I think you will be coming in on a "wing and a Vatican prayer"!

If anyone knows of this B&B and has reason to advise against it please let me know!

It shows you how inexperienced we are when it comes to Rome. Mid to late September is already "out of season" in most of the Italian coastal resorts. This is why we opted for the combination Rome and Umbria.
I really am very grateful for all your information. Fodor's forum is an incredible invention!